tv BBC News BBC News February 20, 2021 3:00am-3:31am GMT
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welcome to bbc news. i'm james reynolds. our top stories: a reset for transatlantic relations as president biden recommits to nate and pledges to "earn back" europe's trust. america is back. the transatlantic alliance is back. and we are not looking backward, we are looking forward together. america's top diplomat speaks exclusively to the bbc about the biden team's approach to the world. whether it's climate change, whether it's this pandemic, whether it's the spread of a dangerous weapon, not a single nation acting alone can deal with them effectively. we have to find ways to work together. astonishing new images sent back from mars by nasa's perseverance rover, showing the red planet's surface in detail. and the reality star
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kim kardashian files for divorce from her husband the rapper kanye west after seven years of marriage. hello and thanks forjoining us. president biden has told world leaders the transatlantic alliance is back following years of strained relations between the us and europe under donald trump. addressing the annual munich security conference, mr biden said the world was at a pivotal moment, pitting those who thought autocracy was the way forward against those who understood that democracy was essential. in a moment, we'll hear from the us secretary of state but first, that pledge from president biden. i'm sending a clear message to the world. america is back. the transatlantic alliance is back. and we are not looking backward.
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we are looking forward together. it comes down to this — the transatlantic alliance is a strong foundation — the strong foundation on which our collective security and our shared prosperity are built. the united states is fully committed to our nato alliance and i welcome europe's growing investment in the military capabilities that enable our shared defence. you know, to me and to the united states, and us, we'll keep article — we will keep faith with article 5. it's a guarantee. an attack on one is an attack on all — that is our unshakeable vow. the g7 has promised a total of $7.5 billion to help the rest of the world receive coronavirus vaccines. the increase in funding was agreed at a virtual summit. the jabs will be distributed through the un's covax scheme, which isn't expected to start deliveries until the end of the month. critics have accused
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the g7 of acting too late. in his first international interview, the us secretary of state antony blinken has told the bbc that the country is also fully engaged in helping resolve global issues such as the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and iran's nuclear ambitions. mr blinken has been speaking exclusively to yalda hakim. he is america's new top diplomat. secretary blinken started his career in the white house advising president clinton and then president obama in senior positions on the national security council. as national security adviser to then vice president biden, he was in the situation room during the raid which killed osama bin laden. he has been biden�*s top foreign policy adviser for nearly two decades. now, the president has tasked him with reframing america's relationship with the world. in his first major interview with an international broadcaster, i have been speaking to secretary blinken. what role can washington play in resolving conflicts and helping the international
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community navigate a path out of the coronavirus pandemic? we are determined, once again, to engage in the world, to show up again, because in the absence of american engagement and the absence of american leadership, then one or two things happens — either some other country tries to take our place, and probably does so in a way that does not advance the common interests and values of the democratic world. president biden and secretary blinken have used the virtual g7 meeting to draw a line under trump's america first policy. blinken told me he is eager to engage with america's allies and adversaries. well, i think you heard the president say it — america is back. blinken says the us is willing to meet iran for face—to—face talks on returning to the nuclear deal abandoned by trump. we have a policy in recent years of so—called maximum
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pressure on iran that has not produced results. in fact, the problem has gotten worse. no upfront concessions. blinken addressed america's complex relationship with china, now under pressure from claims of human rights abuses of the uighur people, and condemned a lack of transparency. it is a striking thing to see china have one of the least open information spaces in the world and yet, of course, it takes advantage of the fact that many of our countries have fully free and open information spaces and china uses that to spread misinformation. there is also the issue of troop withdrawal from afghanistan, which the biden administration has put on pause. we're in the midst of a very rigorous review of the policy toward afghanistan but what we do know already, in the initial conclusion we have come to, is that it is vitally important for us and others to press the parties to make good on the commitments
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that they have already made. antony blinken has had a front row seat to history over the past 30 years. now, he is leading the foreign interest of a deeply polarised country during a global pandemic. it is a diplomatic in tray that is not for the faint—hearted. yalda hakim, bbc news. you can see yalda's full interview with secretary of state antony blinken this weekend across bbc news. let's get some of the other main stories. a young woman has become the first protester to die in the anti—coup demonstrations in myanmar after she was shot in the head. 20—year—old mya thwate thwate khaing was critically injured last week when police tried to disperse protesters using water cannon, rubber bullets and live rounds. the united arab emirates says that princess latifa, the daughter of the ruler of dubai, is being cared for at home, supported by herfamily and medical professionals. the statement by the uae embassy in london came after the united nations asked for proof that the princess
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was still alive. it follows a bbc report in which the princess said she was being held against her will. the uk supreme court has ruled that the taxi app uber must classify its drivers as workers, rather than self—employed. uber had argued its drivers were independent contractors. the ruling could leave it facing a hefty compensation bill, as well has having wider consequences for the gig economy. nasa has released remarkable new high—definition colour images from mars taken by its rover perseverance, which landed on the red planet on thursday. it shows the robot heading down to the ground to make its landing. perseverance has a large amount of data in its memory banks, which it is gradually offloading to earth. —— uploading here to earth. our science correspondent rebecca morelle has the latest. nasa's perseverance rover being lowered to the surface of mars — an image taken
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from above, two metres away from touchdown. that image and the details therein really pull us humans here on earth into the result of all of that hard work. you are brought into the surface of mars. you are sitting there. on the upper—left of the image and the lower—right of the image, you can see these little dust plumes in that, on the surface of mars, are kicked up by our engines. and here's one of the landing sites. the shadow of perseverance is clearly visible. and this close—up of its wheel is intriguing the team. we'll be looking forward in the coming weeks and months as our instruments get checked out to look closer at these rocks. by the edge of the wheel is a rock and one of the first things we noticed was that it has a lot of holes or �*bugs�* in it, and so the science team is now thinking about what this might mean. it's the start of the rover�*s two—year mission, and its main objective is to search
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for signs of life. rover whirrs. perseverance is in an area called thejezero crater. it was once a huge lake. you can see the river flowing into it and out of it. and this purple area is a beautifully preserved river delta where microorganisms could once have lived. this is one of these existential questions — "are we alone in the universe?" and what i can say is all the raw materials, the building blocks are there for there to be life, so it would be — if there's going to be life, it should be in this type of environment. the rover survived a perilous descent, travelling at the speed of a bullet before a supersonic parachute helped it to the ground. and this is where it was made — it's a fabric factory in tiverton, devon. it was a nerve—racking moment for them. i could hardly watch. and then it sort of really hit home, you know, there's lots of things that could go wrong. but it all went right and all of us — the whole team
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and everybody working at heathcoat — was elated that we had another successful mission. over the next few days, the rover�*s instruments will be switched on and many more images will start to come back, including the video of its descent. then perseverance will be ready to start investigating its new home. rebecca morelle, bbc news. we will have more on this story a little later in the bulletin. the reality star kim kardashian has filed for divorce from the rapper ka nye west after seven years of marriage. there has been speculation surrounding a breakdown of their marriage for months. here's the celebrity blogger perez hilton. they were kind of like a much more accessible jay—z and beyonce. whereas jay—z and beyonce are extremely private, it felt like we saw many major moments of kim and kanye�*s relationship played
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out before our eyes — from his very public proposal to her in a stadium to their marriage, to their children being born, to their troubles and, more recently, kanye�*s very public �*incidents�*, as i would politely call what he suffered from last year. just talking about that. given what we know about some of their personal struggles — and it is a matter of public record — and the struggles that america has come to reflect on with other stars, including britney spears, do you suspect that there would be actually more sympathy this time around when we cover a divorce or cover people's personal struggles? i would hope that we could lead with empathy and compassion, especially because there is four young children here who are of age, in school and understand what is going on with their parents. you know, it is being reported that kim had been over the marriage for a long time but she felt that last year was not the right time to file for divorce because kanye, in her mind — and in that
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a lot of the public — was struggling. so i'm optimistic, actually, as a result of this divorce filing that kanye is hopefully in a better place and according to reports, they are amicable. she nor he are asking for sole custody, they have a prenup in place. everything as of now seems to be very cordial and co—ordinated. do we get another album, do we expect, from kanye west? more episodes of reality show from kim kardashian? how might this work professionally? absolutely, both — both is a yes and yes. kim and herfamily are going to begin the final season of their reality show, keeping up with the kardashians, and then later this year... it is going to end? yes! did you miss that memo? i missed that! i had no — i thought it was going on for ever! no! but — but while that show
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is ending, they've already got another show announced. ah! a partnership with abc — uh, with disney. in america, it will air with hulu. internationally, i believe it will air on this network called starz. so i fully expect the new season of the new kardashians reality show to be about kim, the single woman now. and as for kanye, he has been spending a lot of time over the last year—plus in wyoming, where he owns a very large ranch and where he has a studio and has been creating a lot of music and his fashion there. his whole team is in wyoming — which he loves, for some reason. perez hilton. this is bbc news. the headlines: presidentjoe biden has used a virtual global security summit to recommit to the transatlantic alliance and pledge to "earn back" europe's trust. the new us secretary of state, antony blinken, has been
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speaking to the bbc about america's stance on coronavirus, climate change, and iran. let's get more on nasa's mars rover. adam steltzner is the chief engineer on the perseverance mission. he told us about the pressure he and his team were under to make sure the craft land safely. i don't know if i am the most relieved, but i certainly am within a set of individuals who are now breathing a sigh of relief. was that the hardest part, the landing? absolutely. the seven minutes it takes to get from the top of the atmosphere to the bottom and touch down safely are the most dangerous moments in the lifespan of a rover, or any other mission, to the surface of mars. it was seven minutes, we know that, but how long was it for you? laughter well, it's funny. some parts of it are very, very long and some parts go by so quickly you can't even imagine. the bottom — you know, once we get into the sky crane manoeuvre and we're on propulsion, both when curiosity landed and perseverance landed,
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those moments ripped by faster than i could imagine. did you say, "yeah, we always knew it was going to land." on the morning of the landing, one of the principal authors on the three of us who invented the sky crane, one of the principal authors, miguel san martin, who is a good friend but did not work on perseverance, sent me a text message that said, "good luck, adam." i responded to miguel both jokingly and seriously "perhaps it will work a second time?" there was — you know, it looks a little crazy, the idea of lowering the rover, and so there's still — you have to ask yourself, was it a fluke that we were successful the first time? the second time kind of sets the record straight and it seems like it really is a thing. the harder you work, the luckier you get. now, tell me, what does the rover do now? well, the rover will go through what we call "commissioning" — enlarge —
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for the next couple of months. the first order of business will be to change over the flight software that took us to the surface to the flight software that operates us on the surface, it will take about ten days to make that happen. we have got two computers, we switch the software on one computer, make sure it all works out fine then switch to the software on the other computer and confirm that is fine. then we will start opening up the spacecraft, we will start looking at the various instruments, checking everything out to see it is functioning on the surface of mars, in perfect working order. there was a photo. i think it was the first one we saw. to me, it was incredible, because there's one piece of footage that had sound as well. it was quite astonishing to hear what mars sounds like! yes! yes, we're still waiting to get the full audio down, and you know, i'm not totally certain that it is all going to work out. the audio and the camera systems that have delivered us those amazing images, the image of the rover as seen
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from the descent stage, down two metres above the surface of mars, those are commercial, off—the—shelf items or elements from commercial, off—the—shelf items that we've cobbled together into a system. and so it's not custom—built, it's not space—rated, and it's a big experiment to see if it would work. it looks like it has. the audio is the big question for us and i'm crossing my fingers we will get it down and it will be what we hope it is. adam steltzner from nasa. president biden says he'll sign a major disaster declaration for texas as the full extent of the crisis caused by a severe freeze and a huge power failure becomes clear. nearly half of all texans, around 13 million people, have had water services disrupted. hospitals in some hard—hit areas have had to transfer patients elsewhere due to shortages. the state's energy grid is up and running again but many homes are still without power as workers rush to repair damaged or frozen powerlines.
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maria mendez reports on south texas and the border for texas public radio and joins me from laredo. maria, thank you so much for joining us. how was the storm affecting migrants who might be trying to cross the border? thank you for having me. and, yes, this storm has impact did. immigration has innocence continued in the sense that, you know, federal authorities have reported they have had to go into the rio grande to try to protect migrants who have been trying to cross, despite freezing temperatures and authorities have been worried about their offices and migrants are like getting hyper romeu and you know, other migrants who are still waiting to seek asylum in mexico though have been breathing this cold weather, basically intense —— briefing. so a lot of immigrants have been trying to help them stay warm. we know
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how many _ help them stay warm. we know how many peeple _ help them stay warm. we know how many people have - help them stay warm. we know how many people have been . how many people have been trying to cross the border in such terrible weather? i don't have any _ such terrible weather? i don't have any big _ such terrible weather? i don't have any big figures, - such terrible weather? i don't have any big figures, but - such terrible weather? i don'tl have any big figures, but there have any big figures, but there have been a few reports in the last week or so from different field offices for federal authorities, the case that i mentioned earlier was from the eagle pass area and another really significant case that wasn't here on the border but wasn't here on the border but was north of us, in san antonio, local authorities intercepted a all for help from migrants that were in a refrigerated truck and in that case, you know, when they arrived on scene they said that hundreds of them fled into the cold weather and again authorities were concerned about them being out there without property mancz, as the area there was still seeing snow. ~ . area there was still seeing snow, ~ ., ., , ., area there was still seeing snow. ~ . ., ., snow. what about magna reception _ snow. what about magna reception or _ snow. what about magna reception or detention i snow. what about magna - reception or detention centres, have they been affected by a
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disruption to power supplies and water supplies?- and water supplies? yes. immigrant _ and water supplies? yes. immigrant advocates - and water supplies? yes. | immigrant advocates have and water supplies? yes. - immigrant advocates have been saying that they are concerned about the conditions in detention centres because they have been hearing from migrants in some senses that they lost power and, you know, federal agencies have confirmed they areas some intermittent outages. they did say they have generators, but advocates say the migrants have been really cold. and another detention centres where power remained other advocates have said that migrants have told them that they lost water and only had a limited supply of bottle water. and even in normal conditions hygiene is always an issue or a concern in detention centres with so there has been a lot of concern about that. we with so there has been a lot of concern about that.— concern about that. we have reported _ reported a lot in recent days about this or�*s effect in the state of texas, but what about this or�*s effect on northern
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mexico? this or's effect on northern mexico?— this or's effect on northern mexico? ~ ., , , mexico? mexico actually imports a loss of natural _ mexico? mexico actually imports a loss of natural gas _ mexico? mexico actually imports a loss of natural gas from - a loss of natural gas from texas and so what happened on sunday and monday is the natural gas lines rose and so mexico was also left without a loss of his energy supply so almost 5 million mexican consumers, mostly in northern border state, were left without power. it is manufacturing industry along the border. it is estimated that they will have a los —— losses of 2.7 billion because of these outages.— losses of 2.7 billion because of these outages. laredo, thank ou so of these outages. laredo, thank you so much- — of these outages. laredo, thank you so much. thank _ of these outages. laredo, thank you so much. thank you. - buckingham palace has confirmed that the duke and duchess of sussex will not return as working members of the royal family. the confirmation means prince harry and meghan will return their honorary military appointments and royal patronages. here's our royal correspondent nicholas witchell. the bond which was once
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so close has, in every formal royal sense, been shattered. the breach, in terms of the business of royalty, is complete, and bar a complete about—face by the sussexes, it is final. for harry, then, perhaps, a sense of long—sought freedom. for william, one imagines, a deep sense of disappointment. today's news is not unexpected. in the year since harry and meghan made their last appearance at a formal royal engagement at westminster abbey, the gulf between them and the rest of harry's family has grown ever wider. the couple have bought a house in california, negotiated deals with us media companies, and made it clear that they relish their new life. at midday today, buckingham palace confirmed that they would not be returning as working members of the royal family. a statement said that following conversations with harry:
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the statement finished: this was the sussexes' response: they finished their statement by saying this: for harry, the loss of his military roles — particularly as captain general of the royal marines — will be particularly hard. i know that he'll be personally gutted, just as i was, that he's not allowed to pull a military uniform on any more. but regardless, that doesn't change his commitment to the individuals that serve in it and those that require
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care beyond it. supporters of meghan understand why she wants a new life. the press drove her out of here and if she was going to stay here any longer, i think they would probably have made her ill because it isn't a relationship that most americans are used to. so, one of the royal family's most popular members, a man for whom, over the years, there's been great sympathy and admiration, now faces a very different future. the way back to royal duty has been closed. he can never again wear military uniform. harry's future lies in california with his wife and family. nicholas witchell, bbc news. just before we go, an italian hiker found that man's best friend lived up to his name, after he broke his ankle in the alps. the dog, called ash,
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stayed with the 33 year old, who spent a week in the foothills with no phone signal to call for help. he dragged himself to a stream, and said ash kept him warm through the freezing nights and helped raise his spirits. and finally, if in doubt, stay three flamingos apart. that's the message from the los angeles zoo to people paying a visit. after months of closure because of the pandemic, the zoo has finally reopened — and the animals have company. staff say the creatures seem pleased to see the visitors, especially a gorilla named evelyn, who loves to interact with humans. it was like any other day at the zoo, except everyone was wearing masks and no more than 400 people per hour could come and keep evelyn and her friends company. more on our website. let me
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know if you have been to the zoo or otherwise. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @jamesbbcnews. hello again, we've got mild and windy weather as we head on into the weekend. but for some of us it's also going to work out to be pretty wet. we've got a slow—moving weather front across western areas, and along the front, pulses of thicker cloud, pulses of heavier rain working in. now, we are going to see those rainfall totals continue always the heaviest rain over the high ground across western areas, we have a number of flood warnings in force in scotland, one or two for england, we've some enforced as well into wales and across the south of wales, the met office amber weather warning because through the course of saturday, over the hills, over the high ground, 100—200mm of rain is forecast, but of course all that rain falling on the high ground will work down into those river catchments and just increase the risk of seeing some flooding issues then into wales. and the rain here is pretty heavy at the moment as well, further north and west, something a little bit drier for a time in scotland and across eastern england.
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but it is going to be a mild start to the day, wherever you are, on saturday. so, for saturday, most of us will have at least some rain at times, it's going to be windy and mild, however, across parts of eastern england and perhaps central england as well, it looks like it's going to be brighter, hazy sunshine around and very, very mild indeed. so, real mixed fortunes from place to place. not a bad start to the day in scotland, probably a nice sunrise to start off across parts of eastern england. further west, the rain pouring down, the rain turning heavier for a time in north ireland, turning wet in scotland through the afternoon. now, temperatures for all of us will be on the mild side, 12—14 degrees pretty widely. however, across eastern england, 16 degrees or so is possible — very, very mild for the time of year. our weather front�*s still on the charts, then, through saturday night and into sunday, although the activity starts to wane somewhat, so the rain won't be as heavy and it will start to turn a good deal drier for scotland and northern ireland, with much more in the way of sunshine here for the second
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half of the weekend. it's across parts of england that we'll probably see some rain, perhaps starting to wiggle back towards wales, but it doesn't look like it will be quite as extensive or quite as heavy. another mild one coming up, another fairly windy day. again, it's across eastern england that we'll see the highest temperatures on sunday, highs of around 15 degrees or so. into next week, well, we've got another of these slow—moving weather fronts moving into western portions of the uk. so, again, there's a risk of some further localised flooding into the new week.
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this is bbc news, the headlines: president biden has told world leaders the translatlantic alliance is back after years of strained relations between the us and europe under donald trump. addressing the annual munich security conference, mr biden said he wants to lead the west, against what he called, a global assault on democracy. the us secretary of state, antony blinken has told the bbc that america is fully engaged in helping resolve global issues including the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and iran's nuclear ambitions. in his first international interview, mr blinken stressed the importance of worldwide vaccination against covid—i9. nasa has released new images sent back from mars taken by its perseverance rover. they show the surface in detail and the robot heading down to land on the red planet. it's hoped it will find microscopic signs of ancient life — from billions of years ago.
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